The invention relates to a seat belt lock cover. More particularly, the invention relates to a housing which covers the seat belt lock to prevent a child from releasing the seat belt at an inappropriate time.
Although experts agree that seat belts are one of the most effective devices for preventing injury in the event of an automobile accident, it is clear that they are only effective if they are worn. Accordingly, most parents insist that their children wear seat belts at all times. However, a parent can only make certain that a child is initially wearing the seat belt at the start of a journey. They often cannot control whether the child chooses to "free" his or herself from the seat belt at an inappropriate time during the journey.
If a child releases the seat belt while the vehicle is in motion, a variety of safety problems arise. First, without the seat belt, the child is clearly vulnerable to injury in the event of an accident. Second, the child is also prone to injury simply by virtue of the fact that they are now roaming within a moving vehicle--subject to jolts from sudden starts, stops, and sharp turns. Third, since the parent is mostly watching the road, the unsupervised and now unrestrained child can cause damage to the automobile and its contents. Most importantly, the realization by the parent/driver that the child is freely roaming in the back seat can be distracting enough to cause an accident.
Others have attempted to prevent a child from releasing the seat belt by providing devices which limit access to the seat belt lock. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,303 to Salcone and U.S. Pat. No. 4,497,094 to Morris disclose seat belt covers which require the use of a key in order to be released. Such an arrangement seems dangerous and thus undesirable, in that it might prevent emergency personnel from releasing the child from the automobile by following an accident.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,189,767 to Reitsma discloses a closure device security cover which has a top half which secures over the seat belt lock with a series of flanges selectively engageable into slots. Unfortunately, because Reitsma is a two piece construction, the components of which are not permanently attached to each other, it seems quite likely that a user will quickly loose one or both pieces thereof.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,731,912 to Boriskie et al. discloses a seat belt buckle guard which is hinged on one side, and has a latch on the opposite side. With this configuration, there is no reason why a child could not unlatch the device and release the seat belt.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,878,277 to Portuese discloses a child-proof seat belt restraint which requires the adult to place their hand in an elongated channel to release the seat belt. The theory of operation is that a child's hand is too small to reach into the channel far enough to release the seat belt. However, Portuese seems to provide an open invitation for a child to get his or her hand stuck within the channel.
While these units may be suitable for the particular purpose employed, or for general use, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as disclosed hereafter.